An Empirical Study in Pen-Centric User Interfaces: Diagramming

Abstract

We present a user study aimed at helping understand the applicability of pen-computing in desktop environments. The study applied three mouse-and-keyboard-based and three pen-based interaction techniques to six variations of a diagramming task. We ran 18 subjects from a general population and the key finding was that while the mouse and keyboard techniques generally were comparable or faster than the pen techniques, subjects ranked pen techniques higher and enjoyed them more. Our contribution is the results from a formal user study that suggests there is a broader applicability and subjective preference for pen user interfaces than the niche PDA and mobile market they currently serve.